Method of fixing cloth finishes



Patented Aug. '29, 1939. 2,171,475

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF FIXING CLOTH FINISHES Hilton Ira Jones and Llewellyn Jones, Wilmette, Ill.

No Drawing. Application December 8, 1936,

, Serial No. 114,832

1 Claim. 91-68) This invention relates to improvements in the acetates, formates, or furoates of cerium, finishing of textiles, and its objects are as folthorium, lanthanum, or the radio-active metals, lows: such as uranium, or a combination of any of First, to so treat cloth, or equivalent textile these, or of one or more of these with aluminum,

5 fabrics, in such a manner as to make it permatin or other metallic salts. The exact concen- 5 nently retain a desired applied finish. tration of the solution is not of great importance,

Second, to so treat a finishing substance for as explained below. cloth and similar textile fabrics, as to render The textile, preferably in the bolt, is passed its adhesion to the cloth permanent. through bath A which is preferably kept warm,

Third, to provide a starch having the charbut not boiling Bath A is supplemented with a 10 acteristic that when a piece of cloth is starched suitable arrangement to insure the penetration with it, the cloth may be washed and ironed of the textile by the solution. This arrangeindefinitely without losing its stifiness or finish. ment may comprise any kind of guard or rolls Other objects and advantages will appear in that will keep the textile submerged. As the the following specification to which reference is textile passes through the solution in bath A 15 made for the various steps by which the results it is directed through a set of squeeze rolls which of the process are accomplished. remove the excess solution.

Everyone knows that the prevailing modes of Naturally the adjustment of these rolls will finishing cloth are lacking in the quality of determine the pressure and, consequently, the durability, certainly in so far as the well known amount of the solution that is allowed to remain 20 steps of starching and filling are concerned. A in the textile as it passes on to bath B. The starched piece of goods, for example, a collar, equipment in bath Bis similar to that in bath A,

, retains its finish only between laundering. the sole purpose being to thoroughly impregnate Piece goods are commonly sold with a filling, the textile and so precipitate the soap which especially the cheaper varieties of goods, which carries the starch. 25 imparts a certain degree of body and stiifness As the textile passes from bath B it is wrung while new but which is lost with the first out again by a duplicate set of squeeze rolls so washing. as to remove the excess. In practice the second As indicated in the foregoing statements of the set of rolls is tightened considerably so that but a objects of the invention, the improved method small excess of B bath solution remains in the 30 provides a. means of permanently aflixing to goods. As the impregnation of the textile confabrlcs a desired finishing element, for example, tinues, the concentration of the solution in bath starch, so that said finishing element will not be B becomes continuous y less and must be removed either by laundering or dry cleaning. strengthened from time to time in order to bring The manner in which this is accomplished is now it up to its original condition by the addition of 85 set out. Provision is made, in the preferred more of the rare earth salts, for example, cerium practice of the method, for two baths, herein acetate as suggested in Patent No. 1,688,717. designated baths A and B. Bath A may con- After the goods have passed the squeezing operasist, for example, of tion at bath B, they are dried over steam-heated Per nt drums or by any equivalent device, and this 4,9

Corn starch 1 to 3 either with or without first rinsing them. Stearate soap 2 to 7% It has been discovered that by the practice of water to make 100 the foregoing method it is possible to permanently afiix to cloth or equivalent textile fabrics,

These ingredients are mixed cold and then many substances, for instance starch, which 45 brought to a boil to cook the starch. will otherwise readily wash out either by launder- Bath B will consist of a solution of rare earth ing or dry cleaning. The effect of first subjectacetates, formates or furoates of from 1 to 5 per ing the goods to the stearate or other soap in cent concentration. The rare earth acetates, bath A, wringing the goods out and then subjectformates or iuroates intended to be used are such ing it to bath B, is that a rare earth stearate is 50 as are disclosed in the patents to Hilton Ira precipitated which encloses or entangles the Jones, No. 1,688,717 of Oct. 23, 1928; No. 1,799,047 starch, combining it with the threads of the of Mar. 31, 1931; and 1,921,926 of Aug. 8, 1933. goods in such a way that when the goods is Among the salts of the rare earth metals which rinsed, dried and ironed, the starch cannot be may be employed we refer particularly to the removed by washing or dry cleaning. The re- 55 .laundry flakes for thirty minutes with constant agitating then rinsed and ironed, the whole operation having been repeated for more than one hundred times with no efifect upon the finish. Other similarly treated pieces were laundered and ironed in a commercial laundry without efiect upon the finish, then they were further continuously washed by the same laundry for a period of one week, then finally rinsed and ironed, after which the finish of the cloth still seemed unaflected. In this way, cottons, for example, may be washed and ironed indefinitely and will remain as stiffened and finished as they were in the beginning.

By this same method many other substances may be permanently afl'lxed to textiles. Among these bentonite is one. This substance has the quality of delustering the goods. Other substances may be similarly afiixed, for instance, precipitated chalk or commercial fire-repellant salts for fire-proofing, as well as all sorts of waxes and gums (as an emulsion in the A bath) for increasing the sheen or otherwise modifying the finish. It is also contemplated to employ many other metallic salts in the B bath along with the rare earths, for example, aluminum acetate or formate, and in this way the stearates formed by precipitation are thus rendered permanent and not removed by washing or dry cleaning as they would otherwise be.

While in practice the stearate soaps are used (bath A) because they are cheaper than others and just as satisfactory, it must be understood that the oleates, palmitates and all other similar soaps may be used.

A further modification of the method which has been found to be valuable is to use along with the soap solution in the A bath (in place of the starch, bentonite, or similar ingredients) soluble proteins which are also precipitated by the rare earths in bath B. Among the best of these proteins is the so-called alpha protein as extracted from soy beans. The same or any equally satisfactory soluble protein may be extracted from soy bean fiour by boiling said fiour with water and then filtering it. The filtrate contains the soluble proteins. These proteins used in this way will thus be precipitated along with the stearates. They provide excellent finishing and stiffening agents and may be used along with or in place of the starch.

In many cases it is possible to incorporate the soap and starch or other ingredient directly in the dye bath, and thus avoid the necessity of a second bath for the finishing. Thus it will be understood that the main purpose of, the method is to permanently afiix to fabrics such finishing substances as starch, bentonite, etc., for the stiffening, filling, delustering, fireproofing, etc., so that these treatments are made permanent and are not removed by laundering or dry cleaning. The rare earth. and other metallic soaps, as above mentioned, are used as carrying or aflixing agents for the starch, bentonite, etc.

We claim:

The method of treating textiles to affix a finish, consisting of immersing the textile in a bath of 1 to 3 percent cornstarch, 2 to 7 /2 percent stearate soap and approximately 95 percent water, wringing the textile to remove the surplus bath solution, again immersing the textile in a bath of rare earth acetates of 1 to percent concentration, wringing the textile to remove the surplus solution of the second bath, and drying the wrung textile.

HILTON IRA JONES. LLEWELLYN JONES. 

